Monday, June 26, 2017

I have written before about how formative a few short days I once spent in Canada turned out to be for my life. Back then, I went around the world in 5 days as we went from pavilion to pavilion. During the first decades of my working career, I traveled to every country I could get to in the course of my work in import/export. And today I'm connecting to a peace movement that is truly global. (See: O Canada! (We'll always have "Expo" . . . . ).)

A big focus of Expo 67 was "Man and his World." It was a moment when
people were very much aware of how the human species had come to
dominate the planet -- and each other -- and there were the beginnings
of a call for balance.

The 50th anniversary of Expo 67 is this year. I've been enjoying reading about the many related exhibits and commemorations, and the memories come flooding back. (See "Expo 2017: Utopia, Rebooted" in The New York Times, by Jason Farago.) I was delighted to hear my daughter say she's hoping to drive up to Montreal this summer.

By the way, I've always particularly loved the inverted pyramid design of the Canada Pavilion from Expo 67 -- although until I sat down to write this piece today, I wasn't quite sure what I thought it meant . . . .

Coincidentally, I have just come to realize that there is a very large group of countries that continue to exist in a kind of vague relation to the UK and each other through the Commonwealth of Nations. This hit home when I realized that practically the entire Commonwealth -- in this year when it has adopted the slogan "A Peacebuilding Commonwealth" -- consists of countries that are supporters of the global nuclear weapons ban negotiations at the United Nations. (See The Road to the Commonwealth Games Passes Through #Nuclearban Territory.)

The UK opposes the nuclear ban treaty talks, however, as do Australia and Canada. Is Australia's opposition because of the UK position? Is Canada's? I wonder why these two countries, almost alone among Commonwealth countries, fail to support the nuclear ban.

* * *

Canada's posture is influenced by more than just the UK, of course. It also has something to do with the United States.

There is very public discussion right now about Canada and whether it will follow the line set down by the US -- particularly by Donald Trump. There was a very intriguing story by Max Fisher several days ago saying that the Trudeau government is not standing still for the Trump stonewall against action on climate: "Canada’s Trump Strategy: Go Around Him".

It was those words -- "client state" -- that suggested to me what the inverted pyramid may be all about.

The long road signified by #Canada150 (as well as Expo 67) is all about a world turned upside-down, where the rules are no longer dictated by this or that mighty empire, but instead are formulated by people who have the interests of the majority at heart.

Canada beholden to the UK? Canada beholden to the US? Or Canada serving its people, and all people, and Canada's fundamental values?

Please, please, please, Canada: don't stop now. Turn the world really upside-down and join the treaty for a world free of nuclear weapons - #nuclearban.

How mainstream is the global #nuclearban treaty effort? The International Committee of the Red Cross has stepped forward to say: everyone needs to confront the real truth about nuclear weapons and implement a ban now. (Click the image below to see their video.)

"From the 1st second, to 70 years on: here’s what could happen
to you and your city if a nuclear bomb is dropped. #nuclearban"(Please share this message on Twitter.)

How widespread is the global #nuclearban treaty effort? I've spent recent months encouraging people to delve into the stories of the many countries that are leading the ban effort -- countries ranging from Indonesia to New Zealand to Mexico and many more.

SO GRATEFUL for 100+ countries making the #nuclearban happen at @UN!
http://joescarry.blogspot.com/2017/04/133-is-lot-of-nuclearban-supporting.html(Please share this message on Twitter.)

How fast is the global #nuclearban treaty effort growing? Just two cool examples from the last couple of days:

More and more prominent cultural figures support the ban. I had always hoped that the great Chinese artist and activist and social media user Ai Weiwei would help promote #nuclearban. Now . . . check THIS out:

. . . AND . . . in the US . . . there are now thirty-eight (38) co-sponsors on Rep. Ted Lieu's House bill to rein in presidential first use of nuclear weapons. (And eight (8) co-sponsors on the corresponding bill in the Senate sponsored by Ed Markey.) Will support continue to grow in the rest of June and through the summer?

Please use this script to call and get YOUR representative on that list!

Notably, my own country (the US) is boycotting the talks. So are a few other "big powers." But what is becoming clear day by day is that this is really about who is at the table. And what you see by clicking on #nuclearban is the way 100+ countries are successfully creating a treaty.

I reflected yesterday: "To me, the enormous significance of the #nuclearban is this: global rules are no longer going to be dictated by a small number of countries -- those with the most money, the most weapons, who 'know better,' who have appointed themselves the 'leaders' and 'policemen' of everyone else. With this treaty and other efforts like it -- on climate, for instance -- the majority of people in the world -- the people who for decades have been saying 'we want a nuclear weapons free world' -- are going to be the ones leading the way."

Here's a single tweet that helped crystallize that idea for me:

via @nuclearban
"We need to delegitimize nuclear deterrence as a concept,
says Indonesia. The treaty's preamble can help us do this."
#nuclearban(Please share this message on Twitter.)

The representative from Indonesia is wearing native batik. For one thing, it serves as a reminder that the Western business attire of US diplomats is not in the picture because the US chose to un-include itself. For another thing, it invites you to wonder, "What do I really know about Indonesia and its people . . . ?" Indonesia is a very populous country - did I remember that there are about 260 million people there? Indonesia is one of the supporters of the #nuclearban - did I remember that Indonesia was one of the co-sponsors of the original proposal to hold the #nuclearban talks? India is a growing economic power - did I remember that Indonesia is a member of the G20?

The second aspect of this image of the Indonesian representative at the
#nuclearban talks that grabs my attention is all the retweets and
"likes." This speaks to the enormous power of social media to help
spread these new perspectives and examples of heroic leadership like
that of Indonesia around the world in real time.

Then: there are the Indonesian representative's words themselves: "We need to delegitimize nuclear deterrence as a concept. . . . The treaty's preamble can help us do this." This goes to the very heart of what the #nuclearban treaty is about. It is a challenge to the "conventional wisdom" or "global security system orthodoxy" that has been thrust upon the world by a few countries with large nuclear weapons arsenals. A big part of the treaty creation process is to jolt people into breaking out of these old ways of thinking and embracing a new perspective. (See "Deterrence": As a strategy, it makes about as much sense as "proliferation")

I think it's not irrelevant to remark that Indonesia has intellectual and cultural traditions that help give insight and solve problems, and sometimes in ways that those of us outside of the South/Southeast Asian sphere miss. By coincidence, a few months ago I was learning about the epic involving the hero Rama at the Ramayana exhibition at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. The Ramayana is the subject of an enormous body of performance art in Indonesia -- shadow puppet or wayang theater. When I learned about Rama and the Ramayana, I learned about is arch-foe, the evil king Ravana. Ravana is so bad, so evil, so rapacious, that he actually wants to swallow up the entire universe. That's when it occurred to me, "Ravana is like the nuclear weapons states!" That's when I created this meme, based on a scene from the Indonesian shadow puppet theater in which Rama battles the evil Ravanna:

(Ravana is the scary-looking guy on the left with the bright red eyes and bulging nose.)

The story of Rama's struggle with Ravana extends across many episodes, and wayang performances are marathons -- often lasting all night. This is helpful to remember as we embark on an epic struggle to rid the world of a nearly inconceivable evil, wielded by adversaries willing to contemplate plunging the world into darkness and chaos. The #nuclearban treaty will be just the beginning.

This epic struggle to get the nuclear weapons to disarm: perhaps we can
only fully understand it with the help of the world's great literature and mythology?

Monday, June 19, 2017

Today was a good day for the planet and everyone on it.
Thanks to all who are working on the #nuclearban at the @UN!(Please share this message on Twitter.)

June 15 saw the resumption of talks on a global treaty prohibiting nuclear weapons at the United Nations, and they continue this week. You can follow the progress minute-to-minute at the #nuclearban hashtag. The negotiations appear to be on track for completion as scheduled by July 7.

The treaty is the work of 100+ countries that are determined to outlaw nuclear weapons. The effort is supported by activists throughout the world -- in the countries leading the push for treaty talks, in the other countries lending their strong support, and also in the countries that are opposing the ban effort.

It seems extremely likely that the world will, in fact, have a treaty outlawing nuclear weapons very soon -- with participation from the outset of a very large number of countries. That, in turn, will open up enormous opportunity for activists to help persuade every country to accede to the treaty and honor it.

SO GRATEFUL for 100+ countries making the #nuclearban happen at @UN!
http://joescarry.blogspot.com/2017/04/133-is-lot-of-nuclearban-supporting.html(Please share this message on Twitter.)

To me, the enormous significance of the #nuclearban is this: global rules are no longer going to be dictated by a small number of countries -- those with the most money, the most weapons, who "know better," who have appointed themselves the "leaders" and "policemen" of everyone else. With this treaty and other efforts like it -- on climate, for instance -- the majority of people in the world -- the people who for decades have been saying "we want a nuclear weapons free world" -- are going to be the ones leading the way.

Think about it: how will you participate in this new reality?

Rest of @UN is banning #nuclearweapons today
and THIS is the picture of US "leadership" we have to look at. Sad! (Please share this message on Twitter.)

. . . AND . . . in the US . . . there are now thirty-seven (37) co-sponsors on Rep. Ted Lieu's House bill to rein in presidential first use of nuclear weapons. (And eight (8) co-sponsors on the corresponding bill in the Senate sponsored by Ed Markey.) Will support continue to grow in the rest of June and through the summer?

Please use this script to call and get YOUR representative on that list!

The United States opposes the former, and has convinced most of its allies to oppose it, too.

The United States views the latter as "home turf" -- it consists of the countries it sees itself leading into a new century of global economic interdependence and prosperity.

What will it look like when US President Donald Trump stands before his colleagues in Hamburg, after opposing the nuclear disarmament efforts of 100+ countries at the UN in New York?

When I first thought about this question, I had the recent NATO events in mind. So my first thought was, "Oh, well, the G20 is a lot like NATO -- those are all the same allies the US has roped in to opposing the #nuclearban . . . ."

But when I looked more closely, I realized that the G20 is not just another rooting section for the USA and its wishes. In fact, with specific reference to #nuclearban, it's a very mixed bag:

* G20 members Mexico, South Africa, and Indonesia were co-sponsors of the original motion to hold nuclear ban negotiations. And since the EU is a G20 member, we need to count co-sponsors Austria, Ireland, Malta, and Sweden. (In addition, Philippines and Vietnam, who will be in Hamburg as guest attendees, were also co-sponsors.)

Now, it may seem that #G20 has nothing to do with #nuclearban. The #G20 is about trade and development, and #nuclearban is about weapons, right? And isn't most of the #G20 economic activity is accounted for by the opponents of the #nuclearban?

Perhaps. But what if we flip that on its head and ask: "What would the chart of the economic activity of the big 20 economies look like in a world without nuclear weapons?" After all, the #G20 is all about shaping the world economy of tomorrow, not perpetuating the past.

#G20 and #nuclearban may end up having quite a bit to do with each other.

SO GRATEFUL for 100+ countries making the #nuclearban happen at @UN!
http://joescarry.blogspot.com/2017/04/133-is-lot-of-nuclearban-supporting.html(Please share this message on Twitter.)

. . . AND . . . in the US . . . there are now thirty-seven (37) co-sponsors on Rep. Ted Lieu's House bill to rein in presidential first use of nuclear weapons. (And eight (8) co-sponsors on the corresponding bill in the Senate sponsored by Ed Markey.) Will support continue to grow in the rest of June and through the summer?

Please use this script to call and get YOUR representative on that list!

#Oman
"stigmatize, prohibit, and eliminate #nuclearweapons in light
of their unacceptable humanitarian consequences."
Thank you #Oman #nuclearban (Please share this message on Twitter.)

Postage stamps are a kind of pre-Internet-era meme (social media graphic) through which countries have told people what they value.

When I noticed there are so many countries working to bring about a global ban on nuclear weapons -- #nuclearban -- I started to make memes related to each country. That allowed me to select an image I found emblematic of a given country, attach the #nuclearban hashtag and a description of that country's support, and tweet it out to the world. (See 133 Is a Lot of #Nuclearban-Supporting Countries.)

But I also wanted to domore to suggest the values that each supporter country brings to the #nuclearban effort. So I decided to select some of their own postage stamp designs -- to let them tell the story, themselves!

Below is a growing selection of country postage stamps I have shared, together with the Twitter message I used with each one.

Most stamps shown are for supporter countries. I've also shared some stamps from countries that are not yet supporters . . . but should be!)

Please share these on social media . . .and create your own!

#Algeria
#nuclearban ... because our planet is filled with precious living things!
Thank you #Algeria for your support!(Please share this message on Twitter.)

#Bangladesh
This world and all its life: too beautiful to destroy.
Thank you #Bangladesh for supporting #nuclearban at the @UN!(Please share this message on Twitter.)

#Brazil
This world and all its life: too beautiful to destroy.
Thank you #Brazil and 100+ more for supporting #nuclearban!
joescarry.blogspot.com/2017/04/133-is-lot-of-nuclearban-supporting.html(Please share this message on Twitter.)

#Dominica
This world and all its life: too beautiful to destroy.
Thank you #Dominica & 100+ more for supporting #nuclearban!
joescarry.blogspot.com/2017/04/133-is-lot-of-nuclearban-supporting.html(Please share this message on Twitter.)

Monday, June 5, 2017

IMAGINE ... taking a moment each day to say "thank you" to one of the 100+
countries supporting the #nuclearban ... http://bit.ly/2rNrWO9 … Please RT

With just 10 days until the #nuclearban treaty talks resume at the UN, there's just one question on my mind: can we encourage a GLOBAL movement of support on social media for this effort? (More here and here.)

* * *

There are now thirty-six (36) co-sponsors on Rep. Ted Lieu's House bill to rein in presidential first use of nuclear weapons. (And seven (7) co-sponsors on the corresponding bill in the Senate sponsored by Ed Markey.) Will support continue to grow in the rest of June and through the summer?